University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


3ack 

Condon 

at 

Vale 


JACK  LONDON  AND  STATE  SECRETARY  IRVINE 


Jack  London  at  Yale 


Edited  by  the  State  Secretary 

of  the 
Socialist  Party  of  Connecticut 


Published  by  the  Connecticut  State  Committee 
&  Printed  at  the  Ariel  Press,  Westwood,  Mass. 


Extract  from  tfte  Chronicle  of  an  Ancient 
monastery 


«  Tf  N  the  year  of  our  Lord  1432  there  arose  a  griev- 
I  ous  quarrel  among  the  brethren  over  the  number  of 
[^  teeth  in  the  mouth  of  a  horse.  For  thirteen  days  the 
disputation  raged  without  ceasing.  All  the  ancient 
books  and  chronicles  were  fetched  out,  and  wonderful  ;and 
ponderous  erudition,  such  as  was  never  before  heard  of 
in  this  region,  was  made  manifest.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  fourteenth  day  a  youthful  friar  of  goodly  bearing  asked 
his  learned  superiors  for  permission  to  add  a  word,  and 
straightway,  to  the  wonderment  of  the  disputants  whose 
deep  wisdom  he  sore  vexed,  he  beseeched  them  to  unbend 
in  a  manner  coarse  and  unheard-of,  and  to  look  into  the 
open  mouth  of  a  horse  to  find  answer  to  their  question- 
ings. At  this,  their  dignity  being  grievously  hurt,  they 
waxed  exceedingly  wroth;  and,  joining  in  a  mighty  uproar, 
they  flew  upon  him  and  smote  him  hip  and  thigh,  and 
cast  him  out  forthwith.  For,  said  they,  surely  Satan  hath 
tempted  this  bold  neophyte  to  declare  unholy  and  unheard- 
of  ways  of  finding  truth  contrary  to  all  the  teachings  of 
the  fathers.  After  many  days  more  of  grievous  strife 
the  dove  of  peace  sat  on  the  assembly,  and  they  spake 
as  one  man,  declaring  the  problem  to  be  an  ever -lasting 
mystery  because  of  a  grievous  dearth  of  historical  and 
theological  evidence  thereof,  and  so  ordered  the  same 
writ  down." 


lack  Condon  at  Vale 


HE  spectacle  of  an  avowed  Socialist, 
one  of  the  most  conspicuous  in  the 
country,  standing  upon  the  platform 
of  Woolsey  Hall  and  boldly  advocating 
his  doctrines  of  revolution  was  a  sight 
for  gods  and  men."  This  is  how  the 
Register  begins  its  editorial.  We  could 
not  do  better.  It  was  just  that — but  it 
was  more  than  that— it  was  a  sign  of 
the  times.  People  are  still  asking,  "How  did  he 
get  in?" 

It  is  the  purpose  of  this  sketch  to  tell. 
Representing  the  state  committee  and  the  New 
Haven  local,  I  invited  Comrade  London  to  come 
to  New  Haven.  His  calendar  was  full.  His  time 
was  limited — there  was  a  great  demand  for  him. 
Nevertheless,  he  cut  out  several  smaller  engage- 
ments both  of  a  public  and  personal  nature  and 
gave  to  Connecticut  January  26th. 

All  New  Haven  theatres  and  halls  were  en- 
gaged for  that  night.  We  tried  them  all  and 
failed.  A  small  one-horse  thing  of  a  dance  nature 


3acR  Condon  at  Vale         [  4  ]         flow  it 

was  going  on  in  Warner  Hall.  They  refused  to 
give  it  up.  We  approached  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
They  had  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  raise 
and  "therefore1'  could  not  rent  their  hall  for 
the  purpose.  The  Christian  organizations,  be- 
ing wholly  dependent  upon  the  gains  of  the 
capitalists,  cannot  afford  to  even  appear  to  sanc- 
tion a  lecture  on  Socialism.  If  it  were  Christ- 
ian Science — or  Buddhism — or  a  negro  minstrel 
show,  or  anything  of  that  sort,  it  would  pass 
muster.  In  desperation  I  called  upon  a  Yale 
student  who  had  been  canvassing  the  subject  on 
his  own  account. 

We  outlined  a  plan.  London  was  a  literary 
man.  Yale  probably  had  heard  of  him.  My 
friend  talked  the  matter  over  with  an  officer  of  the 
Yale  Union — a  debating  society.  The  seed  fell  on 
good  soil. 

I  was  called  into  conference  for  final  arrange- 
ments. The  conference  took  place  in  Vanderbilt 
Hall— the  proper  place  for  such  things. 

The  officer  of  the  Yale  Union  was  a  youth  of 
exceeding  great  callowness. 

"They  say  he's  socialistically  inclined,  Doctor," 
he  said. 

"Rather,"  I  replied. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "I  suppose  we'll  have  to  take 
our  chances." 


3acR  Condon  at  Vale      [  5  ]         BOW  Tt 

So  we  did  —  but  they  looked  small  just  then. 
They  looked  larger  later. 

There  was  no  money  in  the  Yale  Union  treas- 
ury and  the  hall  would  cost  fifty  dollars. 

I  guaranteed  the  hall  rent,  advertising,  etc., 
provided  we  might  charge  an  admission  fee  of 
ten  cents. 

He  agreed. 

In  case  of  a  frost  or  a  failure  I  promised  to 
make  good  the  deficiency.  I  also  meekly  sug- 
gested that  as  compensation  for  "risk  involved " 
I  would  take  the  surplus,  if  there  was  any. 

He  nodded  assent. 

He  was  apprehensive  over  the  attitude  of  Pres- 
ident Hadley. 

"Of  course  if  he  says  nothing  about  Socialism 
it'll  be  all  right." 

"Of  course,"  I  echoed  faintly. 

"Will  you  introduce  him?"  I  was  asked. 

"Certainly." 

I  had  heard  the  address  three  times  and  I  knew 
it  almost  by  beart.  I  could  smooth  the  way. 

"Do  you  know  his  topic,  Doctor?" 

"Yes,  I  do." 

"What  is  it?" 

"He  calls  it— The  Coming  Crisis.1" 

"Social— I  suppose,  eh?" 


.lack  Condon  at  Vale         [  6  ]         Ifow  it  Bappencd 

"Yes,  it  is  a  suggested  remedy  for  a  lot  of  our 
troubles." 

44 Ah— well,  er — has  he  really  a  socialistic  ten- 
dency?" 

How  funny  all  this  was.  I  remembered  the 
savagery  of  satire  on  things  as  they  are,  of  the 
arraignment  of  capitalism  before  the  bar  of  reason. 
I  saw  in  vision  the  sons  of  the  rich  listening  to 
the  thunderbolts  of  this  prophet  of  the  new  order. 
I  saw  them  quiver  and  shake  and  squirm — I  saw 
some  of  them  convulsed  with  silent  profanity 
—so  as  I  sat  there  playing  with  words  I  yearned 
for  an  opportunity  to  laugh— to  laugh  loudly. 

"A  tendency— did  you  say?  Well,  brother,  if 
when  you  hear  this  speech  you  call  it  a  'ten- 
dency,' I  would  like  to  know  what  the  genuine 
article  is!" 

The  Socialist  student  had  a  few  rounds  with  Lee 
McClung  next  morning.  "Me"  is  the  Yale  treas- 
urer. He  didn't  know  Irvine  from  a  gate  post. 
London  was  also  an  unknown  quantity — but  "Me" 
took  Prof.  W.  L.  Phelps'  word  for  it  that  London 
was  a  literary  man  and  he  let  it  go  at  that. 

"Yale  is  a  university,"  said  the  brilliant  Phelps, 
"and  not  a  monastery.  Besides,  Jack  London  is 
one  of  the  most  distinguished  men  in  the  world." 

A  few  hours  after  it  was  decided  that  we  could 
have  Woolsey  Hall  the  advertising  began.  The 


Jack  Condon  at  Vale         [  7  ]         Ijow  it 

factories  and  shops  were  bombarded  with  dodgers. 
Every  tree  on  the  campus  bore  the  mysterious 
inscription:  "Jack  London  at  Woolsey  Hall." 
Comrade  Dellfant  painted  a  poster  which  gripped 
men  by  the  eyes.  In  it  Comrade  London  appears 
in  a  red  sweater  and  in  the  background  the  lurid 
glare  of  a  great  conflagration.  In  a  few  hours  we 
had  informed  New  Haven  and  Yale  of  the  com- 
ing event.  The  information  was  in  red  letters. 
On  the  morning  of  the  26th  Yale — official  and  un- 
official—awoke as  if  she  had  been  dreaming.  She 
rubbed  her  eyes  and  again  scanned  the  trees  and 
the  billboards.  Then  the  officers  of  the  Yale 
Union  were  run  down.  They  had  previously  run 
each  other  down.  Explanations  were  in  order  all 
around.  Several  of  the  Yale  Union  boys  —  in 
pugilistic  parlance — lost  their  little  goats.  They 
were  scared  good  and  stiff. 

Several  Yale  Dons  got  exceedingly  chesty  over 
the  affair.  But  the  New  Yale  took  a  hand  and 
Prof.  C.  F.  Kent  and  Prof.  W.  L.  Phelps  coun- 
selled a  square  deal  and  fair  play. 

The  Yale  Union  had  a  stormy  meeting— a  small 
cyclone  struck  it  and  never  in  all  its  history  had 
things  looked  as  important  as  they  did  now.  A 
real  sensation  was  at  hand  and  every  man  in  it 
was  determined  to  cover  himself  with  glory.  It 
was  indignantly  moved  and  carried  that  the  pres- 


Jack  Condon  at  Vale         [  8  ]         BOW  ft  happened 

ident  of  the  Union  introduce  the  speaker.  Irvine 
was  a  Socialist  and  everything  with  a  socialistic 
tendency  was  to  be  cut  out.  They  considered 
asking  London  about  his  address  and  offering 
some  suggestions  thereon,  but  that  was  abandoned. 
A  student  in  sympathy  with  us  wrote  me  as 
follows : 

"Yale  Union  and  many  of  the  faculty  are 
sweating  under  the  collar  for  fear  London  might 
say  something  socialistic.  The  Union  realizes 
that  it  would  be  absolutely  useless  to  ask  him 
to  smooth  over  his  lecture  and  cut  out  any- 
thing which  sounds  radical.  Also  they  have  de- 
cided that  it  would  be  a  shock  to  the  University 
and  the  public  to  have  you  appear'upon  the  plat- 
form in  any  way  shape  or  manner.  They  are 
going  to  ask  you  to  cancel  your  agreement  to  in- 
troduce London.  In  this  I  think  they  are  unwise, 
but  as  they  are  determined — it  must  be  so.  I 
advise  you  to  agree  to  whatever  arrangement  they 
may  suggest.  This  done,  they  will  "take  the 
chances"  that  London  will  express  socialistic 
ideas. 

Now  I  fear  there  will  be  the  devil  to  pay  for 
the  lecture  —  the  University  is  going  to  be  sur- 
prised ;  the  faculty  shocked  beyond  measure,  and 
the  Yale  Union  severely  criticised !" 

The  following  on  the  same  date  is  from  a  mem- 
ber of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Yale  Union: 


Jack  Condon  at  Vale         [  9  ]         BOW  it  Bappcitcd 

"At  a  meeting  of  the  executive  committee  of  the 
Yale  Union  it  was  voted  that  the  president  of  the 
Union  introduce  the  speaker  of  the  evening  as  it 
would  tend  to  identify  the  Union  more  conspic- 
uously and  also  to  give  it  prominence  before  the 
student  body.  For  this  reason,  wholly  beyond  my 
power  and  opposed  to  my  opinion,  I  shall  be 
forced  to  forego  our  little  plan  which  I  thought 
by  far  the  best.  I  regret  if  my  suggestion  has 
caused  you  any  inconvenience  in  the  way  of  un- 
necessary labor.  I  have  written  this  note  in  an- 
ticipation— that  is,  in  case  I  could  not  see  you  at 
my  room  personally  when  you  called.  I  shall 
expect  you  at  my  room  at  the  time  you  proposed 
which  will  leave  you  and  your  distinguished  guest 
ample  leisure. 

Cordially  and  most  respectfully," 


It  had  been  definitely  settled  that  the  lecture 
could  not  be  called  off  and  the  only  thing  left 
was  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  job.  When  we 
arrived  on  the  scene  the  boys  still  believed  that 
any  reference  to  Socialism  would  be  merely  in- 
cidental. 

Woolsey  Hall  was  crowded.  The  crowd  gave 
the  boys  another  idea.  This  time  it  was  a  finan- 
cial idea.  A  crowded  hall  at  ten  cents  per  capita 
with  a  large  reserve  section  at  twenty-five  cents 
was  responsible  for  the  thought.  We  gave  the 


Jack  Condon  at  Vale         [10]         fiow  it  fiappened 

Yale  Union  full  swing  in  every  particular  save 
one.  We,  too,  got  an  idea  into  our  dull  heads 
and  strangely  enough  this  was  also  related  to 
finance.  Socialists  are  not  familiar  enough  with 
the  game  to  play  it  successfully,  but  in  this  par- 
ticular instance  we  played  according  to  the  rules — 
we  furnished  the  goods,  took  all  risks  and  bagged 
the  pot!  We  gave  nine  points  out  of  ten.  The 
tenth  was  a  financial  one. 

The  crowd  represented  every  phase  and  form 
of  our  city.  A  hundred  professors  and  ten  times 
as  many  students;  many  hundreds  of  working- 
men  ;  many  hundreds  of  citizens.  A  great  crowd 
assembled  in  a  great  hall  for  a  great  occasion. 

Hundreds  of  Socialists — members  of  the  party — 
were  there,  but  so  overwhelmed  were  they  by 
the  Bourgeois  atmosphere  that  there  was  not  the 
slightest  attempt  to  applaud  during  the  entire 
length  of  the  lecture. 

If  the  students  had  attempted  to  play  horse 
with  the  lecturer  there  would  have  been  some 
exceedingly  interesting  developments.  Working- 
men  were  prepared  for  such  an  exigency,  but 
for  over  two  hours  the  audience  gave  the  lecturer 
a  respectful  hearing.  A  woman  —  a  lady — went 
out  swearing.  A  few  students  tried  hard  to  sneer, 
but  succeeded  rather  indifferently.  Jack  London 
gripped  them  by  the  intellect  and  held  them  to 


jack  Condon  at  Vale      [n]         Bow  Tt 

the  close.  There  was  some  applause  at  the  be- 
ginning and  some  at  the  close,  but  at  neither  end 
was  it  intense  or  prolonged. 

At  the  close  of  the  lecture  Comrade  London 
was  invited  to  a  student's  room — one  of  the 
largest — and  there  he  answered  questions  until 
midnight.  As  the  clock  struck  twelve  a  member 
of  the  Yale  Union  came  to  me  and  asked  me 
seriously  if  I  thought  there  was  any  hope  of 
keeping  London  for  a  week.  "We  can  fit  him 
up  here,"  he  said,"  "in  fine  shape!" 

There  was  a  second  conference  at  Mory's  and 
some  tired  intellects  were  handled  rather  roughly 
by  the  guest  of  the  evening  —  but  the  students 
clung  to  him  and  escorted  him  in  the  wee  sma' 
hours  up  Chapel  street  toward  the  Socialist  par- 
sonage where  another  reception  was  awaiting  him. 

A  professor  of  Yale  told  me  a  few  days  after 
the  lecture  that  it  was  the  greatest  intellectual 
stimulus  Yale  had  had  in  many  years  and  he 
sincerely  hoped  that  London  would  return  and 
expound  the  Socialist  program  in  the  same  hall. 


Press  Comments  and  Remarks 


3acR  Condon  to  Vale  men 


Lecture  on  Socialism  in  lUooisey  Ran.  University  Ideals 

giean  ana  nobie  but  not  flifte.  Indictment 

Against  the  Capitalist 

From  YALE  ALUMNI  WEEKLY,  Jan.  31,  1906 

M"^R.  Jack  London,  author  and  Socialist, 
I  gave  a  lecture  at  Woolsey  Hall,  Friday 
evening,  January  26,  on  'The  Coming 
Crisis."  The  lecture,  which  was  under 
the  auspices  of  the  Yale  Debating  Association, 
drew  a  very  large  audience  of  cosmopolitan  char- 
acter. Several  hundred  men  from  the  University 
were  present,  but  the  majority  of  those  in  the 
hall  were  from  the  city,  and  included  many  Ger- 
mans, Russians,  Italians  and  Jews,  evidently  warm 
sympathizers  with  the  cause  of  Socialism. 

Mr.  London  appeared  upon  the  platform  in  un- 
conventional dress — a  black  cheviot  suit,  with  a 
white  flannel  shirt,  rolling  flannel  collar,  a  white 
silk  tie  and  well-worn  patent  leather  pumps.  His 
hair  was  combed  low  over  one  side  of  his  fore- 
head. He  looked  the  man  to  whom  conventional 
things  didn't  mean  much.  When  he  was  intro- 
duced he  walked  to  the  edge  of  the  stage  and 
began  to  speak  in  a  clear  voice,  which  reached 


JacR  Eonaon  at  Vaic      (13)     Press  gommcnts,  €tc. 

easily  to  the  furthest  corner  of  the  hall.  He  used 
scarcely  any  gestures,  and  rarely  raised  his  voice 
even  to  emphasize  a  point.  His  emphasis  he  got 
by  reiteration.  Mr.  London,  after  his  preliminary 
remarks  to  the  University  men,  which  are  given 
below,  read  the  rest  of  his  speech,  which  was  the 
same  as  the  one  he  has  delivered  in  his  present 
lecture  tour,  and  from  which  quotations  have  oc- 
casionally appeared  in  the  daily  press.  From  the 
expressions  heard  after  the  lecture  it  was  a  dis- 
appointment to  most  of  the  audience.  He  told  of 
the  growth  of  Socialism  fr  om  its  inception  to 
the  present  time,  and  pointed  at  a  crisis  not  far 
off,  but  gave  no  remedy,  or  suggested  no  way  by 
which  it  might  be  averted.  Speaking  of  the  mag- 
nitude of  the  movement  he  said:  "In  the  United 
States  there  are  one  million  men  who  begin  their 
letters,  'Dear  Comrade'  and  sign  them  4Yours  for 
the  Revolution.'  In  all  countries  the  Comrades'  are 
gathering — now  seven  millions  strong — who  will 
fight  with  all  their  might  for  the  conquest  of  the 
world  and  the  complete  overthrow  of  existing  soci- 
ety. There  has  never  been  anything  like  this  revo- 
lution in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  has  nothing 
analogous  to  the  French  or  American  revolutions. 
It  is  the  first  organized  movement  to  become  a 
world  movement,  with  a  history,  traditions  and  a 
martyr  roll  only  less  extensive,  possibly,  than 
the  martyr  roll  of  Christianity.  It  is  an  army 
that  loves  peace,  but  is  not  afraid  of  war." 


Condon  at  Vaie      [14]     Press  Comments,  etc, 

The  Socialist  indictment  against  the  capitalist 
class,  Mr.  London  said,  was  that  it  had  its  op- 
portunity and  failed.  Now  the  working  class 
would  take  a  hand  and  demand  its  chance.  "In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  middle  class  men  are  inter- 
ested in  the  movement,"  he  continued,  "it  is 
nevertheless  a  distinctive  working  class  revolt  the 
world  over.  The  workmen  of  the  world,  as  a 
class,  are  fighting  the  capitalists  as  a  class.  So- 
cialism's count  against  the  capitalist  has  never 
been  answered  by  that  class.  The  capitalist  class 
has  managed  society,  and  its  management  has 
failed  ignobly,  deplorably,  horribly.  The  capital- 
ist class  had  an  opportunity  which  was  vouchsafed 
no  other  class  in  the  world.  It  mastered  matter, 
organized  the  machinery  of  life  and  might  have 
made  possible  a  wonderful  era  for  mankind  in 
which  no  creature  could  cry  aloud  because  it  had 
not  enough  to  eat  and  wherein  there  would  have 
been  every  opportunity  for  spirit  uplifting.  Here 
was  the  God-given  chance,  and  the  capitalist  failed. 
There  are  10,000,000  people  in  the  United  States 
who  have  not  enough  to  eat,  and  are  perishing, 
body  and  soul,  because  they  have  not  enough  to 
eat.  All  over  this  broad  and  prosperous  land  are 
men  and  women  and  children  who  are  living  lives 
of  chronic  starvation.  In  some  respects  we  are 
no  better  off  than  the  cave  man,  because  our 
management  is  irrational." 

Mr.  London   prefaced   his  lecture  with  some 


JacR  Eondon  at  yale         [153    Press  Comments,  etc. 

remarks  directed  particularly  to  the  universities, 
which,  he  said,  he  found  clean  and  noble  in  their 
ideals,  but  not  "alive."  These  remarks  are  re- 
ported verbatim: 

MR.  LONDON  TO  COLLEGE  MEN 

"I  speak  tonight  on  behalf  of  the  Intercollegiate 
Socialist  Society.  This  is  a  society  formed,  not 
for  the  purpose  of  getting  Socialist  votes  in  the 
colleges  and  universities  of  the  United  States,  but 
for  the  purpose  of  starting  in  the  various  colleges 
an  intelligent  study  of  Socialism.  It  is  to  be  de- 
plored that  so  far  in  the  United  States  there  has 
been  no  such  intelligent  study  of  Socialism. 

Socialism  is  something  that  has  been  tabooed, 
or  else  it  has  been  misunderstood,  misinterpreted, 
misconstrued.  For  instance,  I  know,  I  am  con- 
fident that  there  is  no  man  in  this  audience  to- 
night who  knows  anything  about  Socialism  who 
will  say  that  its  aim  is  anything  else  and  anything 
less  than  noble.  Yet,  reading  the  capitalist  press 
of  the  United  States,  one  constantly  has  impressed 
upon  him  the  feeling  that  Socialism  is  something 
in  aim  that  is  not  noble. 

A  BIT  OF  BIOGRAPHY 

"Socialism  is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  sci- 
ence and  a  philosophy  that  deals  with  the  human, 
and  attempts  to  make  a  better  world  for  the  hu- 
man; attempts  to  get  a  more  rational  organization 
of  society  than  we  have  today.  And  Socialism 
is  clean,  noble  and  alive.  I,  for  instance,  was 


Condon  at  Vale         [ie]   Prm  Comments,  etc, 

born  in  the  working  class.  I  lived  on  a  ranch  in 
California  in  a  state  of  sordidness  and  wretched- 
ness. I  did  not  have  always  enough  to  eat.  I  am 
trying  to  give  this  little  bit  of  biography  in  order 
to  make  you  understand  my  own  approach  to 
Socialism.  I  had  no  outlook  but  what  you  might 
call  an  up-look.  Above  me  towered  the  colossal 
edifice  of  society,  and  I  felt  that  up  there  were 
beautiful  clothes;  men  wore  boiled  shirts,  and 
women  were  beautifully  gowned,  and  there  were 
there  all  the  good  things  to  eat  and  plenty  of  them. 
So  much  for  the  flesh.  I  felt  also  that  up  there 
I  would  find  things  of  the  spirit,  clean  and  noble 
living  and  deeds  and  ideals,  and  I  resolved  to 
climb  up  there.  But  it  was  my  destiny,  before 
I  climbed,  to  go  down.  Starting  in  the  working 
class,  I  went  down  into  what  Gorky  calls  the 
'cellar  of  society,'  down  into  the  abyss,  down 
into  the  charnel  houses  of  civilization.  This  is 
something  it  is  not  considered  good  form  to  speak 
about,  but  I  went  down  there  and  lived,  and 
'sweated  my  bloody  sweats'  in  jails  and  prisons 
of  various  sorts,  digging  my  way,  and  starving 
and  looking  at  society  from  an  entirely  new  point 
of  view.  I  found  there,  it  is  true,  all  the  ineffi- 
cients  of  society,  the  men  who  were  born  failures, 
but  I  found  there  also,  and  in  great  numbers,  the 
men  who  had  been  worked  out  by  society,  the 
m,en  who  sold  their  muscles. 


Jack  Eondon  at  Vale         [17]    Press  Comments,  etc. 

THE  STATE  OF  THE  SELLER  OF  MUSCLE 

"Now,  as  I  looked,  I  learned  a  lesson,  and  that 
was  that  it  was  not  the  thing  for  me  to  do  to  re- 
main what  I  had  been,  that  is,  a  seller  of  muscle. 
I  saw  that  all  men  bought  and  sold  commodities, 
and  that  the  most  unfortunate  of  sellers  was  the 
man  who  sold  muscle,  because  his  was  the  one 
stock  that  did  not  renew  itself.  The  shoe  mer- 
chant sold  shoes,  and  as  fast  as  he  sold  shoes, 
he  put  in  more  shoes  in  his  store.  He  constantly 
replenished  his  stock.  The  brain  merchant  did 
the  same  thing.  As  fast  as  he  sold  his  brain,  he 
replenished  it.  But  the  man  who  sold  nothing 
but  muscle,  each  day  reduced  his  stock  of  mus- 
cle, until  at  last — when  he  was  forty  or  forty-five 
or  fifty  years  of  age — he  had  sold  out  his  com- 
plete stock  of  muscle,  and  as  he  had  no  children 
to  take  care  of  him,  no  children  fortunately  situ- 
ated, he  went  down  into  the  shambles,  down  into 
the  abyss,  and  perished.  Whereas,  the  man  who 
sold  brain,  when  he  was  forty-five  or  fifty  or 
fifty-five  or  sixty,  he  had  a  finer  stock,  a  fuller 
stock,  than  any  time  in  his  life  before,  and  he 
was  receiving  a  higher  price  for  his  wares.  And 
so  I  resolved  to  become  a  seller  of  brain.  When 
I  succeeded  in  becoming  a  merchant  of  brain,  I 
found  that  society  opened  its  doors  to  me  higher 
up,  and  I  went  up  there  expecting  to  get  in  with 
people  who  lived  lives  that  were  clean,  noble  and 
alive.  I  fully  expected  that,  and  I,  who  had  come 


Jack  London  at  Vale         [is]   Press  gommems,  etc 

through  all  this  material  want  and  wretchedness, 
came  in  on  the  comfortable  parlor  floor  of  society 
and  was  appalled  by  the  gross  and  selfish  mate- 
rialism I  found  there.  I  did  not  find  life  clean, 
noble  and  alive. 

"In  the  business  world — well,  why  should  I 
stop;  why  should  I  take  two  minutes  to  tell  you 
of  the  business  world.  You  know  the  base  side 
of  the  business  world  today.  Accounts  are  given 
in  all  our  daily  papers  and  all  our  magazines  of 
the  rottenness  and  betrayal  and  crime  that  per- 
tains to  the  business  world.  I  found  there  nothing 
that  was  clean,  noble  and  alive.  And  in  the  polit- 
ical world  I  found  the  same  thing.  I  found  our 
political  leaders  were  men  who  were  mastered  by 
machine  bosses,  who  obeyed  the  dictates  of  ma- 
chine bosses  who  were  themselves  bought  and 
sold,  who  rode  on  railroad  passes  and  who  sold 
legislation  to  capitalist -purchasers  of  capitalist 
legislation. 

THE  PASSIONATE  PURSUIT  OF  INTELLIGENCE 

"I  went  to  the  university.  I  found  the  univer- 
sity, in  the  main,  practically  wholly  so, — I  found 
the  university  clean  and  noble,  but  I  did  not  find 
the  university  alive.  I  found  that  the  American 
university  had  this  ideal,  as  phrased  by  a  profes- 
sor in  the  Chicago  University,  namely:  The  pas- 
sionless pursuit  of  passionless  intelligence' — clean 
and  noble,  I  grant  you,  but  not  alive  enough.  I, 
for  one,  who  am  very  much  alive  and  who  min- 


3acK  Condon  at  Vale         [19]    Press  Comments,  etc. 

gle  with  men  who  are  very  much  alive,  feel  that 
such  an  ideal  is  a  decadent  ideal,  believing  that 
there  should  be  a  passionate  pursuit  of  intelligence. 
And  the  reflection  of  this  university  ideal  I  find 
— the  conservatism  and  unconcern  of  the  Ameri- 
can university — in  the  great  mass  of  the  American 
people,  the  people  who  are  suffering,  the  people 
who  are  in  want.  And  so  I  became  interested  in 
an  attempt  to  arouse  in  the  minds  of  the  young 
men  of  our  universities  an  interest  in  the  study 
of  Socialism.  Of  course,  such  is  my  vanity — it 
is  only  human  vanity — that  I  personally  believe 
that  practically  every  young  man  who  has  noble 
impulses,  who  wants  to  go  in  for  something  that 
is  clean,  noble  and  alive — that  practically  every 
young  man  who  will  study  Socialism,  its  science 
and  philosophy,  will  become  a  convert  to  its  doc- 
trines. Such  is  my  belief.  .  .  . 

"We  do  not  desire  merely  to  make  converts, 
to  have  our  young  men  of  the  universities  all 
become  Socialists.  We  do  not  expect  that,  but 
want  them  to  raise  their  voices  for  or  against. 
If  they  cannot  fight  for  us,  we  want  them  to 
fight  against  us — of  course,  sincerely  fight  against 
us,  believing  that  right  conduct  lies  in  combating 
Socialism  because  Socialism  is  a  great  growing 
force.  But  what  we  do  not  want  is  that  which 
obtains  today  and  has  obtained  in  the  past  of  the 
university,  a  mere  deadness  and  unconcern 
and  ignorance  so  far  as  Socialism  is  concerned. 


Jack  Condon  at  Vale         [20]    Press  Comments,  etc. 

Fight  for  us  or  against  us.  Raise  your  voices  one 
way  or  the  other;  be  alive!  That  is  the  idea  upon 
which  we  are  working." 


Condon's  Lecture 


YALE  ALUMNI  WEEKLY,  EDITORIAL 

44  TT  is  good  that  Yale  students  should  have  as 
clear  a  presentation  made  to  them  as  pos- 
sible of  the  life  and  feelings  and  aims  and 
beliefs  of  a  considerable  portion  of  their  fellow- 
men  concerning  whom,  through  ordinary  channels 
of  information,  they  know  little.  Whatever  dis- 
appointment there  may  have  been  in  the  lack  of 
constructive  suggestion  or  of  original  information 
in  the  lecture  by  London,  many  hard,  grim  facts 
of  tremendous  moment  were  brought  out.  It  would 
be  well  if  there  were  more  of  these  attempts  to 
give  this  side  of  real  life  and  thought  to  men  who 
are  here  constructing  their  philosoply  of  life  and 
political  science,  and  who  some  day  may  be  called 
upon  to  meet  the  issues  growing  out  of  these  facts. 
It  does  no  good  to  belittle  them  any  more  than 
it  is  wise  to  exaggerate  them.  The  great  thing 
is  to  take  them  into  account  and  treat  them  and 
not  ignore  them  in  the  development  and  up- 
building of  a  Christian  civilization." 


Jack  Condon  at  Vale         [21]    Press  Comments,  etc 

THERE  is  a  subtle  assumption  running  through 
all  these  comments  that  Yale  is  a  capitalist  and 
a  class  institution,  and  that  the  fact  that  a  member 
of  another  class — the  working  class — the  discon- 
tented class — had  an  opportunity  to  speak  there 
was  on  the  whole  a  rather  commendable  thing 
and  an  evidence  of  breadth  and  open  minded- 
ness. 

A  few  more  London  lectures  would  help  us  to 
believe  that  "Lux  et  Veritas"  really  is  the  motto 
of  the  university.  At  present,  as  it  is  related  to 
the  actual  life  of  the  institution,  we  think  it  is  a 
humbug  and  a  farce. 

Comrade  London  donated  the  proceeds  of  the 
lecture  to  the  state  committee. 


JacK  Condon  at  Vale         [22]    Press  Comments,  etc, 
Class  lUar 


From  NEW  YORK  TIMES,  Feb.  1,  1906 


IE  must  commend  Mr.  Jack  London  for 
the  perfect  frankness  with  which  he  tells 
his  audiences  what  Socialism  is,  and  what 
it  aims  to  accomplish.  He  does  not  dis- 
semble. He  is  not  mealy-mouthed.  He  does  not 
croak  Socialism  in  timid  disguises.  He  does  not 
profess  to  regard  it  as  a  mere  return  to  the  golden 
rule,  or  as  a  reform  altogether  beneficent  that  will 
harm  nobody  and  make  the  world  happier.  Mr. 
Jack  London's  Socialism  is  bloody  war— the  war 
of  one  class  in  society  against  other  classes.  He 
says  so.  It  is  a  destructive  Socialism.  He  glories 
in  it. 

It  was  reported  that  the  faculty  at  Yale  were 
somewhat  apprehensive  lest  Mr.  London's  views 
should  be  a  little  too  radical  for  the  New  Haven 
atmosphere.  The  faculty's  apprenensions  were 
not  without  ground,  for  in  his  address  to  some 
three  thousand  Yale  men  at  Woolsey  Hall  last 
week  Mr.  London  made  these  observations: 

"When  I  write  to  a  Socialist,  I  start  the  letter 
with  the  phrase,  'Dear  Comrade,'  and  I  close  the 
phrase  'Yours  for  the  revolution.'  That  is  the 
practice  among  400,000  Socialists  in  the  United 
States.  There  are  throughout  the  civilized  world 


Ecndon  at  Vale         [23]    Press  Comments,  etc. 

7,000,000  Socialists,  organized  in  a  great  inter- 
national movement.  Their  purposes  are  the  de- 
struction of  bourgeois  society,  the  doing  away 
with  the  ownership  of  capital,  and  with  patriot- 
ism; in  brief,  the  overthrow  of  existing  society. 
We  will  be  content  with  nothing  less  than  all 
power,  with  the  possession  of  the  whole  world. 
We  Socialists  will  wrest  the  power  from  the  pres- 
ent rulers.  By  war  if  necessary.  Stop  us  if  you 
can! 

"The  grip  of  Socialism  is  tightening  on  the 
world.  The  blood-red  banner  will  soon  be  wav- 
ing wildly  in  all  winds.  This  is  not  a  vague  up- 
rising. The  propaganda  is  based  on  intelligence 
and  on  economic  necessity.  The  workers  as  a 
class  are  fighting  the  capitalists  as  a  class. 

"The  capitalists  are  in  the  minority.  We  are 
in  the  majority.  All  capitalists  are  bad  and  all 
workingmen  are  good.  If  people  object  to  our 
program  because  of  the  Constitution,  then  to  hell 
with  the  Constitution  Yes,  to  hell  with  the  Consti- 
tution.* President  Roosevelt  is  frightened  by  our 
revolution.  He  says  that  class  war  is  the  great- 
est danger  to  the  country.  Class  war  is  our 
watchword." 

That  is  what  Socialism  means.  It  is  to  the 
accomplishment  of  these  things  that  Socialism 
tends.  Consciously  or  unconsciously,  pretty  much 
all  Socialists  want  to  see  Mr.  Jack  London's  re- 


*This  report  is  perverted  of  course.    See  Note  following. 


Jack  Condon  at  Vale         [24]    Press  lommctm,  etc, 

forms  achieved,  and  to  see  them  achieved  in  Mr. 
Jack  London's  way.  They  all  aim  at  a  redistri- 
bution of  wealth  — the  taking  things  away  from 
those  who  have  in  order  to  bestow  them  upon 
those  who  have  not,  quite  regardless  of  their 
desert,  or  of  any  of  the  principles  of  justice  as 
those  principles  have  been  formulated  and  estab- 
lished by  human  society.  Very  few  Socialists, 
however,  have  Mr.  Jack  London's  courage.  Again 
we  say,  he  must  be  commended  for  his  courage 
and  for  his  honesty.  Society  can  judge  Socialism 
better  and  reach  sounder  conclusions  of  its  merits 
when  it  has  a  correct  understanding  of  the  nature 
of  Socialism  and  the  intentions  of  Socialists. 


note 

COMRADE   London  delivered   his  lecture 
in  Grand  Central  Palace,  New  York,  on 
January  19,  1906.    In  it  he  quoted  a  work- 
ingman  who,  after  having  been  deprived  of  his 
rights  and  robbed  of  his  labor,  is  lectured  on  the 
sacredness  of  the  Constitution.  This  workingman, 
said  London,  is  very  likely  to  say,  "To  hell  with 
the  Constitution."    That   is  the  setting  and  the 
sense  of  the  phrase. 

At  the  close  of  the  lecture  a  young  man  got  up 
and  asked  this  question:  "Is  the  first  article  of  a 


Jack  Condon  at  Vale         [25]    Press  Comments,  etc. 

Socialist's  creed,  'to  hell  with  the  Constitution?' " 
After  a  fierce  indictment  of  capitalism  —  after  a 
most  definite  challenge — this  was  the  only  ques- 
tion that  occurred  to  the  bourgeois  mind  —  to  a 
worshiper  of  traditions.  Instantly  mother  Jones 
arose  in  the  gallery  and  said,  "I  want  that  young 
man  to  understand  that  it  wasn't  a  workingman 
who  said  that,  but  a  general  in  the  army."  Gen- 
eral Bell  of  the  Colorado  gang  of  professional 
killers  was  the  man  referred  to.  London  antici- 
pated a  working  man  saying  it,  but  Bell  said  it! 
Isn't  it  strange  that  the  Times  should  be  oblivi- 
ous of  the  fact  that  the  same  lecture  was  delivered 
three  times  to  immense  audiences  in  New  York 
weeks  before  it  was  delivered  at  Yale?  It  quotes 
as  if  he  said  it  for  the  first  time  at  Woolsey  Hall. 
Quite  a  number  of  comrades  have  gotten  mixed 
up  on  the  use  of  the  phrase. 


The  lecture,  'The  Coming  Crisis,"  was  pur- 
chased by  Collier's,  months  ago,  but  it  is  now 
fairly  well  understood  they  got  cold  feet  on  it  and 
so  it  is  pigeon-holed  for  keeps. 


Jack  Condon  at  Vale         [26]    Press  gommems,  etc. 
Cbe  Gospel  of  Condonism 

THE  REGISTER'S  pungent  Editorial,  Jan.  27,  1906 


|HE  spectacle  of  an  avowed  Socialist,  one 
of  the  most  conspicuous  in  the  country, 
standing  upon  the  platform  of  Woolsey 
Hall  and  boldly  advocating  his  doctrines 
of  revolution,  was  a  sight  for  gods  and  men. 
There  are  doubtless  those  who  tremble  at  the 
thought  that  Jack  London  was  thus  permitted  to 
beard  the  lion  in  his  den  and  take  the  young  men 
of  the  university  into  his  confidence,  while  he  in- 
stilled into  them  the  gospel  of  Socialism,  but  these 
fears  and  forbodings  are  entirely  misplaced.  It 
was  a  good  thing  that  he  was  brought  here,  and 
it  was  a  better  thing  that  he  was  allowed  to  preach 
to  his  heart's  content  in  the  very  citadel  of  con- 
servatism. There  is  little  chance  of  his  views  re- 
ceiving enthusiastic  approval  from  the  students 
of  Yale,  while  there  is  every  probability  that  the 
knowledge  of  the  spirit  back  of  the  socialistic 
movement  will  awake  slumbering  skeptics  to  the 
realization  that  there  is  something  for  them  to  do 
stem  the  tide  of  radical  thought  in  this  country. 
While  many  of  the  statements  made  by  London 
challenge  denial,  and  while  many  of  his  protests 
have  a  solid  foundation  in  justifiable  irritation,  it 
by  no  means  follows  that  the  way  out  of  the  wil- 
derness of  men's  selfishness  and  wrong  doing  is 


Jack  Condon  at  Vaic      [27]     Press  Comments,  etc, 

through  revolution  and  the  destruction  of  the  pres- 
ent organization  of  society.  Far  more  dangerous 
than  the  gospel  of  Londonism  is  the  cause  back 
of  it.  Under  normal  conditions  it  would  be  im- 
possible for  even  a  more  fascinating  speaker  than 
London  to  fill,  as  he  did.  last  evening,  that  great 
assembly  hall.  Men  do  not  search  for  new  doc- 
trines of  government  and  new  policies  of  conduct 
when  what  they  have  produce  equitable  results. 
It  is  when  the  old  order  seems  unable  to  antici- 
pate and  provide  the  needed  protection  for  in  justice 
that  men  turn  impulsively  to  any  cure  that  prom- 
ises to  improve  things.  There  were  probably  but 
few  present  last  evening  who  were  in  sympathy 
with  London's  ideas,  and  who  at  the  close  of  his 
address  knew  what  the  panacea  is  which  he  has 
for  the  betterment  of  society.  There  were  fewer, 
in  all  probability,  who  did  not  feel  unconsciously 
that  he  was  in  some  mysterious  way  representing 
them  in  their  protests  against  the  evils  of  our  times. 
If  they  are  unwilling  to  subscribe  to  his  gospel, 
they  are  ready  to  listen  to  his  statement  of  their 
grievances,  which  is  only  another  way  of  saying 
that  they  have  deep-seated  grievances  which  are 
not  receiving  proper  consideration  at  the  hands  of 
those  who  should  be  concerned  with  them. 

As  for  the  gospel  of  Londonism  and  the  pan- 
acea which  it  offers  as  an  escape  from  burdens 
grievous  to  bear,  it  thrives  and  will  continue  to 
thrive  so  long  as  legislative  bodies  continue  to  ig- 


Jack  London  at  Vale         [28]    Press  Comments,  etc. 

nore  matters  of  common  significance  and  impor- 
tance, and  confine  themselves  to  matters  of  spe- 
cial and  exclusive  interest.  Jack  London  may, 
therefore,  be  said  to  be  occupied  in  a  useful  public 
service,  He  is  rattling  the  dry  bones  in  a  manner 
to  disturb  sleep,  and  the  greater  his  success  the 
sooner  will  they  use  their  waking  hours  to  force 
consideration  of  the  welfare  of  the  masses  of  the 
people.  As  we  have  intimated  above,  it  is  no  use 
attributing  all  this  revolutionary  and  incendiary 
talk  to  the  foreigners  whom  we  have  welcomed  to 
our  shores  and  given  equal  rights  with  ourselves. 
We  must  look  for  the  causes  within  ourselves  and 
in  our  conduct  of  our  own  institutions.  Of  all  the 
countries  in  the  civilzed  world,  this  country  should 
offer  the  smallest  territory  for  the  propagation  of 
socialistic  doctrines,  and  yet  today  we  find  it  the 
most  prolific  in  socialistic  movements.  It  is  worth 
while  we  should  say  for  our  leaders  and  students 
to  begin  at  once  an  examination  of  our  national 
assets,  and  not  lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  pres- 
ence of  London  here  last  evening  was  an  answer 
to  the  call  of  Yale  students,  who  enjoyed  the  sym- 
pathy of  an  unusually  large  audience  in  the  largest 
of  local  assembly  halls.  Such  an  examination 
must  take  place,  and  reforms  introduced,  or  there 
may  be  serious  trouble  in  the  land. 


f  5  3523 

0^4 

Z65 


